Former top official Joris Demmink should be prosecuted for rape. The court in Arnhem says that the public prosecutor, who previously did not start a criminal investigation, should prosecute anyway.

Demmink, who was until 2012 the Secretary General at the Ministry of Justice, has long been the subject of rumours about the abuse of underage boys. So far, that never led to a criminal court case.

Two Turkish men have now enforced prosecution in an Article 12 procedure at the court. They say they have been raped by Demmink when they were children when he was on mission in Turkey.

If Demmink’s guilt will be proven, then this looks a Dutch parallel of the horrible Jimmy Savile scandal in Britain, which also continued for decades without prosecution.

Demmink is a member of the Right wing VVD party, the party of Dutch Prime Minister Rutte.

Minister of Justice Opstelten (also VVD) said today that he is not sure whether the government will continue to pay Demmink’s lawyer, as is the case so far. A majority in the Dutch parliament saysthese payments should stop. Some MPs say that Demmink never should have been paid, and that he should give back taxpayers’ money which he received so far.